Father, Not Lord
by bradynisspiffy
Summary: A take on a civilized Hive after the Taken King is gone.


The roar of the thrusters, the few and far between sounds of the various systems coming online, and of course, Spark spilling info on any planet that happened to pass by. Salt-14 began pressing various buttons, "Rerouting power from thrusters…" He said, the exo now moving colored lines, representing power, from the back of the ship to the middle and front. "Engine power stable, hyperdrive is stable." He continued, droning on to no one in an attempt to establish organization on the unclean ship. Spark, continued his speal on Mars, which Salt had realized was too much info to care about very deeply. "The Cabal Phalanx is a shield-bearer who is often the point of impact in a force of soldiers." He spoke, which was then followed up by specific tactics and what was known about the training of such soldiers. "Spark, I'm done. No need for any more info, thank you." Spark then stopped abruptly and hovered in the air, turning his eye towards the cockpit. At this point, the sound of his friends kicked shouted from the speakers, causing Salt to jump. "-and that is why I'm going to kick his metal ass when we get there!" Evan yelled as Salt began to chuckle softly. "Oh there you are! Tell me Salt, were do you want your head to go after I tear it off of you?" Salt responded with a loud laugh, "If you could shove it up your scrotum, that would be great." Zix then chimed in, "Ladies, you are both so beautiful. Now stop arguing and think about the matter at hand." Evan grunted, then sat silent. Zix then spoke again, "So, apparently a group of guardians saw some thralls waving at them from the ground on the Moon before rushing back into a cave about 36.6 miles from the Hellmouth.". Salt let out a sigh of relief, "So, they sent us to deal with… nice thralls?" Evan then let out a loud breath and began speaking with annoyance, "Yes, bucket-o-bolts. We are going to kill some nice thralls. Cakewalk." Salt then came back with, "You know, you are literally a bag of muscle with some good battle strategy, I am a sophisticated life form with the mind of a man and the badassery of a machine. Shut the fuck up." Evan began to huff at Salt, but Zix cut his tirade before he began, "They told us that they may not be hostile, but stay alert." Salt and Evan both let out a grunt of affirmation before all of them began to see the Moon in it's full hollow glory. Their ships slowly descended onto the Moon with hesitation as they all exited and loaded their weapons. Salt then began to walk in the direction of the cave that supposedly held friendly thralls. Evan then began to complain as usual, "So why can't we use our vehicles? My feet are killing me." Zix responded with a tinge of annoyance, "Do you want other monstrosities of the Hive to come slithering over the hills and overwhelm us?" Salt then saw some fresh tracks leading in the direction of the cave, "Got tracks here, recent, possibly our friendly thralls taking a stroll." Salt then began walking at a faster pace, being excited about these new discoveries. After a while, Salt saw the cave fitting the description from the Guardians. Salt lowered himself near the ground, "Get low, found the cave." As Salt walked towards the cave, he normally would smell rotting flesh and death at the mouth. But this cave did not smell as such, it was simply bland air. Salt gestured to his companions as all of them walked into the cave, as they did, they began to hear the basic chittering of thralls before they saw a group of them. Salt expected them to be searching for worms, but in reality he noticed that they were just talking. They simply were just communicating while hunched over and brushing dust off one another. Salt stopped his companions, then gestured to the now sniffing thralls. They sat for a while, sniffing the air and looking with vacant eye sockets as they moved around the hall. Salt pressed himself against the wall, and soon his companions followed suit. Evan then began to raise his rifle, only for Salt to suddenly pull his barrel down. Then Salt watched as the thralls all were now staring in their general direction. The thralls, with unseen speed, were now staring at them. Salt looked now to the thralls, watching them survey the heroes. Evan, normally the cannon to now start obliterating these creatures, sat in surprise. Salt then began to get up, causing the thralls to take cautious steps back. "Hey, nice thralls, no stabby stabby." Salt then gestured to himself, "Friends."

At this point, the thralls began to form broken sentences at Salt, each of them finishing each other's sentences. "Come. -WITH US. to father… we must go," Evan then got up, brandishing his rifle, "Yes, you will take us to your leader, pests." The thralls then hissed and began scurrying down farther into the cave. Salt, looking back to his friends with a dumbfounded look, began to follow the thralls. Evan pointed his rifle down the hallway and began to follow Salt, "You know…" Salt said, "You aren't that fast, what were you going to do? Shoot down friendlies and then go kill their families?" Evan responded with a absentminded grunt and a quiet "Fuck you," before continuing. Zix followed without complaint, trying to see the thralls, but only seeing them in flashes, moving down the winding corridors. Salt and his companions eventually saw a large doorway, and beyond that heard the chittering and occasional screams of the Hive language. They all slowly walked in, and saw it. The ranks of thralls were uncountable as well as the large number of knights bussing around. They looked as most of them gave strange looks, but ultimately left them alone. The group of thralls they had met then pulled them farther into the strange cavern, pulling them closer and closer to what seemed to be a small square building made of Moonrock. As they did so, Evan lowered his weapon to simply marvel at this reinstated and revitalized architecture this friendly hive seem to have made. Zix spoke, "How in god's name did they manage to do this… and how did they learn _english_?" Salt had no answer, for he was also dumbfounded at the strangely _passive_ hive. The team then were brought before the strange building, and immediately ushered inside. What sat upon the padded stone throne confused them more than any other thing they had ever seen. He sat comfortably, back against one arm rest while draping his legs over the other. At the side of his throne, a wizard hovered quietly, writing on a clipboard of sorts. On the other side, a knight kneeled, chittering quietly. At the heroes arrival, the man sat correctly on his throne. His attire reminded Salt of Eris, with the dark samurai-esque armor and his black smudges on his face. He was pale, but young and lithe looking. His eyes were almost black, and he seemed to look through Salt. "Welcome my metallic friend. My name is Sebastian, and the wizard to my left is Klin'jish, The wise. The valiant knight to my right is Gron, but the others have taken to calling him the Hand of The Father." Gron then suddenly arose to a full height of most likely 7 foot. "ME. GRON. WELCOME, ME YOUR BODYGUARD." Zix then looked back to Sebastian, "So i'm guessing you are what the thralls called father?" Sebastian looked to Zix with vigor,"Of course I am! I protected this brood when they were simple worms, and now they treat me as their leader and dad." Evan looked to Sebastian in anger, "You are a human! You betrayed your nature to father horrible abominations!" At this, Sebastian raised one eyebrow,"Ah yes, the loud mouthed Titan who called my child a "pest". My children are not creatures of violence, but they will personally hurl you into the Hellmouth if you continue with the stinging language." Salt then spoke again with a chuckle,"Can you please not use such an advanced vocabulary ? He doesn't understand big boy words." Evan then threw a punch Salt's way, but Salt expected the punch and dodged it easily. Zix again ignored the two,"How did you manage to get so many under your control? I mean, you have a small army of civilized Hive here!" She exclaimed. Sebastian only smirked, his vacant eyes shining with pride, "Whether you meant it or not, I take that as a compliment. But yes, I do have a population under my control. I raised a quite small brood, but subsequent shows of kindness and generosity gave me the moral leeway to allow them to breed. Now, I have many who would follow me till death. And others have taken to worshipping me." He said as his eyes trailed downwards, clearly uncomfortable with the idea of being a Hive deity. Zix immediately noticed the body language,"But do you want them to?" Sebastian looked up, "I don't have a choice. Now, I believe that you should see my people's way of justice." At this point, Sebastian, along with his advisors and the guardians walked from the room. They then walked through the crowds, and watched as the king of the New Hive was bowed before by every Hive they passed. As they neared a cave, even Evan began to throw concerned looks at the now following Hive. The group moved then through tall corridors and eventually found themselves at a tall and imposing room of worship. A tall altar, similar in design to those devoted to Oryx. But these were devoted to Sebastian, who seemed to be a God to some. Sitting in front of it were many acolytes who surrounded and held a group of dregs, who looked around the room with anticipation as the group entered the hall. "Welcome guardians, to the Church of The Father." Sebastian said as he gestured to the entirety of the room. "These dregs are members of the House of Exile, and killed at least 45 of my children. As you can see, a tall feat for just 3 measly dregs." He continued, Gron moving forward to greet the acolytes. "My many children have each proposed a punishment, all of them being death of course. But who to deal the killing blow?" Sebastian pondered. "My acolytes promise to use them as vessels and conduits for religious practices. But I feel that such torture is against the moral code I try to initiate. My Man-At-Arms, Gron, says that he will offer a swift beheading to each of them. My thralls offer, well, a visceral punishment. I am the most inclined though, to accept Klin'jish's offer. He proposed to cave in a mine shaft and force these dregs into unstable Hive territory." Evan spoke up, "I vote with Gron, kill the fuckers." Salt then spoke, "I vote with the wizard." Zix then decided to speak, "I vote with the thralls actually, a eye from many eyes I suppose." Sebastian thought for a while, weighing the options. He then walked to the dregs in front of him, "You killed my children, my grandchildren. My people. You are hereby sentenced to death, I suggest you close your eyes. Wouldn't want your stump to be the last thing you see." The dregs offered no response, and Sebastian didn't even know if they understood what he said. This, however, was quickly shown to not be of use as Gron took up his sword and slammed it into a dreg's neck. The blade went almost completely through, but about halfway into the bone it stopped. Gron then wrenched his hands, using the force to snap the bone. The dreg's head now tumbled to the ground, being picked up by stray acolytes and taken behind the shrine. The remaining dregs began to scream and kick and punch, and once even got out of the acolyte's grasp. It was futile though, as Gron sweeped with his blade and promptly decapitated the runner. Gron then walked towards the final dreg, more regal than the other two. Gron took up his blade and drove it down onto the top of the dreg's skull. It split it like a log, and went about halfway into the skull. The brain matter and large amount of blood began to pour as Gron took up his sword out of the dreg's head and cut it off. The acolytes, with small bursts of movement, picked up the pieces as Gron placed his sword over his shoulder. Klin'jish let out a huff and spoke for the first time, his voice was like honey, but it held sharp undertones. " A waste of life. Better to direct the exiles towards other Hive. Not us, father." Sebastian raised a eyebrow at the "father". "My friend, you are my most valuable child, please. You are above the title of son." He then began walking out of the chamber, beckoning the guardians. He led them again through a different tunnel, this time arriving in a mostly empty hall. It was mostly blank, except the strange items that sat on shelves and hung on walls. Acolytes moved around, inspecting items and all turning their attention towards their King now entering the room. The group moved through the room, Sebastian pointed out a disk on a shelf. It was broken in half, and had ridges and valleys on it. "Before the Golden Age, that was called a '"record"'. If it were still intact, it would play music on a machine made for it. A complex process, but supposedly it played the greatest kinds of music of the time. Although I prefer silence." Sebastian then led the group through the place, showing off his broken and dusty treasures. The king then took them back through the tunnel, and eventually back into the throne room. Zix then spoke, "Sebastian, who are you? Are you a guardian? A human? I mean, you don't have a mask on or anything." Sebastian looked to Zix with a saddened look, "I used to be a guardian, but my endeavors with the Hive and the brood I raised have changed me. My ghost, well, they left a long time ago. I no longer require a helmet, nor do I wish for one. My people see me as a leader, not a figurehead with a unrelatable piece of metal for a face. I assume, though, by voice and unfortunately by stereotype, that you are a member of the awoken. I know by sheer voice that you are a exo, hunter. And by demeanor, I know that your Titan is most certainly a human. You are all probably wondering why I haven't asked for your names yet. Well, frankly I don't understand names anymore. But please, tell me yours and make your first engagement with the New Hive more interesting. Salt at that point was the first to speak, "I am Salt-14, exo hunter." Zix then stepped forward, "Zix Rneristi, warlock." Evan then begrudgingly stepped forward,"Evan Peterson, titan." Sebastian's eyebrow raised at Zix's name and then fell at Evan's. "Interesting…" Sebastian said as he fidgeted in his throne. "You know, I haven't asked you all yet, why is that you all haven't just gunned down my entire family?" To this, no one answered for a long while. Then, Zix spoke," I believe we haven't because your people didn't even attempt to hurt us. They actually took us directly to you without complaint. They never showed any attempt to harm us in any way." Zix said as she shrugged. Sebastian smiled, "I thank you for taking the time to understand before just killing," Salt then interrupted the moment, "You know, you have a nice place here." Sebastian then looked to him,"Thank you Salt, I appreciate it. Now, I suggest that you go back to your ships. I have shown you all that I have, and I would appreciate that you would tell the Speaker that this is a safe part of the moon." Salt and Evan both let out a sigh, but it was Zix who nodded, "We will Sabastian, come on you two." She said before she took all of them out of the throne through the crowd was now slightly normal to the group, and emerging out of the cave and realizing that the rest of the Moon was hostile hurt more than it should've. They all began making their way back to their ships, "You know, i'm happy we found those guys." Salt said as they moved. "Me too, me too." Zix said as they came over a hill, moving towards the ships. As they all entered the cockpits, the coms came online. "Back to home sweet home." Evan said. The ships lifted off the surface, and out of the atmosphere. The roar of the thrusters, the few and far between sounds of the various systems coming online now didn't even phase Salt as he pondered on the strange events that had happened. "Let's give them a five star review, we have a site for that, right?"


End file.
